


Always Name a Street Dog

by eremazing



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Post-Calamity Ganon, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), he deserves a pet after these trying times, link gets himself a puppy, this is so self indulgent im not even gonna beat around the bush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 06:01:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16886970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eremazing/pseuds/eremazing
Summary: You can never really pick the dog that was meant for you, sometimes you just have to wait for the dog to find you itself





	Always Name a Street Dog

**Author's Note:**

> i've had this idea in my head for literal months i just never got around to finishing it?? huge props to my dear friend emmet who lets me go on for hourssss abt this kind of stuff and read it over for me at 9 pm to fix all the mistakes i made while hastily typing this on my phone in the school library, love u bby ;)  
> the only reason botw doesn't get a 10/10 is because you can't pet the dogs sorry nintendo :/ but game mechanics won't stop me from loving these funky little dudes!!

It wasn’t any different from an average day in Hyrule. It started out as just a drizzle, but quickly developed into a downpour that was almost impossible to see through. There was no light outside, save for the warm lamps of the stable and the glow of the fire below the cooking pot. The evenly sliced pieces of meat sizzled in the oils and spices chosen by the Hylian champion himself, the familiar smell welcoming after a long day of travel.

Of course, nothing too extreme, it was rare to find someone with a stomach as strong as his. In the wild you had to take what you were given, a lesson Link learned very early on in his journey. Zelda in particular was his polar opposite, preferring the sweetness of wildberries to the kick of Goron Spice. The princess in question came up to his side; or, so he thought. Zelda’s hands were never cold, let alone wet, even with the rain. When he looked down, he was met with warm yellow eyes instead of the expected green. Those eyes brightened, and a small pink tongue met his ungloved hand.

He had always liked animals - it was something he distinctly remembered even after waking up from his 100 year nap - and dogs were no exception. This one was definitely young, under a year at least. It still hadn’t grown into its too-long legs, and its ears still weren’t sure if they wanted to flop over completely or stick up just barely above its fluffy head. The smooth black fur on its face was accented by the distinct tan patches on its cheeks and the white streak traveling up its muzzle. Pulling his hand away, he picked up a small piece of the still raw meat and held it in front of the puppy who accepted it eagerly, then scooted forward for more.

No matter how much he fed the dog, it didn’t stand up to lead him to a hidden treasure like the stable dogs usually did. Perhaps it was still too young to understand. It seemed entirely content to just sit by his side and rest its chin on his leg, staring up at him all the while.

“Making friends, are we?” That was the familiar voice he expected to hear. Zelda sat beside him on the other makeshift chair and held her own hand out to the puppy, who gave her fingers a lick as well. She glanced down to the new piece of meat in his hand as he fed the puppy again and commented with a cocked eyebrow, “I thought I told you to not feed wild animals, we don’t need an entourage of beasts following us around.”

Link put down his spoon to sign with a sarcastic flourish, “ _I feed myself?_ ” Their banter had become much more smooth and natural once the calamity was defeated and Zelda’s duty to unlock her true power was finished.

“Oh, haha,” she replied, leaning her elbows on her knees to prop up her chin.

“ _She’s not a wild animal, I know her parents_ ,” he continued, pointing to the other two tri-colored dogs resting near the pen of goats to the left of the stable, “ _Kalimba and Sundance. I met them on my journey._ ” Whistling to call them over, the two dogs immediately perked up and trotted over, nosing their daughter before nuzzling affectionately into Link’s side.

Before Zelda could ask how he got the dogs to love him so much, the stable-hand jogged over with a wide smile on his face. “Hero! I was wondering when you would grace us with your presence again!”

“ _Gotter_ ,” Link greeted simply with an added nod. 

“I see you’ve met Kalimba’s puppy. She’s about 5 months old now, she was born while you were appeasing the beasts and fighting off the Calamity,” Gotter explained while petting said puppy’s head affectionately.

“ _Only one?_ ” Link asked.

The stable-hand shook his head quickly to confirm, “Oh, no. She had 3 more, but other travelers came by and adopted the other ones.”

Link nodded at that, then went back to stirring the pot, getting ready to skewer the meat for dinner. What he didn’t notice is that all the while, Zelda was staring at him with an inquisitive look.

* * *

The puppy didn’t move from her spot laying at Link’s feet, even after dinner when most of the others using the Inn for the night had already settled in. He kept his eyes focused on the fields in the distance, the young dog doing the same.

“Don’t stay up too late,” Zelda said as she rose from her seat, sounding almost like a mother rather than a friend. Link responded with only an idle nod, not moving from his spot. Even with the Calamity gone, he remained alert, preparing for monsters that could show up at any moment.

The princess paused at the entrance to the Inn, casting one final glance at the pair. “She seems to like you.” The comment was enough for Link to take his eyes off the field for a moment to look down at the puppy, who was looking up at him with an almost hopeful glimmer in her eyes.

He only retreated to bed once the stars began to show. Stal monsters were bold, but not nearly enough to attack a well-lit building with several Hylians inside. When he stood, the puppy mirrored his actions, even to the point of following him inside. Link stopped in place, putting his hands on his hips and looking down at her. She stretched and yawned before immediately looking up at him again, panting in a way that made her look like she was smiling. The man shook his head; surely, she was just expecting more food.

Continuing on his path to bed, he rested his sword and shield against the wall, as well as his boots. As soon as he was finished, the puppy moved to curl up in front of them, as if protecting them. He sat with his legs hanging off the bed, studying her carefully. Why no one adopted her, he couldn’t understand, but many more people were traveling now that Hyrule was safe. Someone would take her eventually. Still, even with that thought, he stayed awake for another hour, maybe two, highly aware of the figure at the side of the bed.

* * *

He eventually managed to drift off, falling into a sleep deep enough that he felt fairly well rested when he finally woke up. Link stretched his arms over his head, glancing over his shoulder to the spot where the puppy was laying last night; this time, she wasn’t there. _Doesn’t matter_ , Link thought to himself. Though, something nagging deep in his heart told him that it did. He fastened his belts and tugged his boots on, opting to carry his gear rather than putting it across his back.

Zelda was apparently already awake, her form visible even through his eyes that were squinted against the sun. She threw what looked like a long stick off into the distance before turning to face him.

“Ah! Good morning, sleeping beauty,” she greeted with a smile.

“ _What time is it?_ ” He asked, rubbing the sleepiness away from his eyes. Zelda pulled out the slate to give him an accurate answer.

“10 a.m.”

Link flinched. He thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in, but they were planning on arriving at the Zora’s Domain at noon to smooth out some political plans.

His internal dread was cut short by a high-pitched bark in the distance. The puppy had been trotting back proudly with the stick in her mouth, but upon spotting him, she dropped it and began running towards him. He braced himself to catch her before she knocked them both over, but she skidded to a stop and placed her paws on his stomach, which was as far as her puppy legs could reach.

“She left your room earlier to eat breakfast, then insisted I play fetch with her. She’s very good at it,” Zelda explained, running a hand down her back.

Link kneeled down so she wouldn’t have to stretch up to meet him. This quickly proved to be a bad idea, as he immediately ended up with a tongue in his face, which elicited a laugh from the princess.

Pushing her off gently, he rushed to get various ingredients from his pack to whip up a quick breakfast; it would be rather unsightly for them to arrive late to a meeting with the king just because he slept for too long. Zelda could have woke him up, but he decided to not press for answers. She would probably just dance around the question anyway.

As he began packing up for the remainder of the trip, the stable-hand he spoke to the day before approached him. “You know, if you want to take her with you, you can. It would be an honor to say the Hero of Hyrule himself adopted a dog from our little residence-“

Link shook his head almost too quickly, gesturing to the two horses Zelda was tacking up, and then to the direction of the Domain. The other took a moment to understand, but then nodded. “You need to continue your travels. I do hope that you come to visit again, Hero.” He spoke with a slight trace of sadness in his voice, which Link didn't entirely understand.

He waved a goodbye before approaching the horses Zelda was leading out of the stable, offering them both a fresh apple. He patted his horse’s neck affectionately before mounting her, looking over to the princess to confirm that it was time to head out, then tapped the horse’s sides with his legs to get her moving.

The puppy had been chewing on the stick Zelda was throwing for her, but as she spotted her and Link leaving, she scrambled to her paws and barked to get their attention, trailing behind them.

Link urged his horse to go faster, guilt clawing at his chest. He didn’t even say goodbye. Eventually, the puppy stopped following, panting from the effort of following two full-grown horses.

“Link.”

He didn’t notice Zelda had stopped until she called his name behind him.

“ **Link** ,” she said, more forcefully this time.

Finally, he stopped, but he kept looking forward, shoulders hunched slightly.

“You told me that when you were a child, your mother didn’t let you have a dog, yes?” She asked. Link didn’t look back, though he still nodded in response, knowing full well that ignoring her wouldn’t do him any good.

“Well, no one is stopping you now,” she insisted. “You conquered the Divine Beasts, ended Ganon’s rule, and saved all of Hyrule. Do you really believe taking care of a dog while on our travels is too much for you to handle?”

Link knew she was right, as per usual. He finally turned to sign, “ _It wouldn’t be fair to her to drag her along into dangerous situations-_ “

“Hyrule is no longer in danger, because of your efforts!” Zelda interrupted, pointing an accusing finger at him. She then sighed and gripped her horse’s reigns again. With less bite this time, she asked, “Is it any more fair to leave her behind, when clearly she wanted nothing more than to come with you?”

At that, he faltered. His heart hardly needed more convincing, as if it knew from the start that he wanted to keep the puppy just as much as she wanted to stay with him.

His mind made up, Link dismounted his horse and started jogging back to the stable, with Zelda leaning back in her saddle with a proud smile.

As he neared the stable, he hardly had a moment to think about the idea that she might have already given up on him, because as soon as he came into view, the puppy uncurled herself from where she was laying by the cooking pot as a sorrowful lump of fur and began racing towards him again. This time, Link was ready for it. He kneeled down to catch her, her clumsy paws splaying across his shoulders as she fell into him.

“I had a feeling you would come back,” Gotter said above him with a chuckle. Link looked up with a slightly awkward smile. It seems like everyone other than him was right today. “She doesn’t have a collar, but I’m sure you’ll find something,” he said cheerily.

“ _It’s fine,_ ” Link signed, then hoisted the puppy up in his arms. In a few months, she would be a bit too large to carry comfortably, but he could worry about that later. Just as he turned to leave, he quickly faced the stable-hand again and traced the sign of a rupee in the air.

“No, no! You can’t put a price on a dog, Hero! Especially since she chose you first,” he said, giving the puppy one final pat. “Now, off with you! Zelda said you must visit the Zoras, didn’t she?”

Link offered a true smile this time, then turned for the final time to hurry back to Zelda and their horses. He hoped internally that the animals would all get along, but they didn’t seem to fear each other from what he saw the past day.

Zelda smiled coyly as Link returned, resulting in a deadpan look from him. He could practically hear her ‘told you so’ in his head already. Making sure to keep his horse steady with whispers of encouragement, he lifted the puppy just high enough to set her on the front of the saddle before lifting himself up to sit behind her, where he could make sure she didn’t fall off.

Once they were all settled in, Zelda alerted her horse that it was time to set off again, Link following in a similar matter. “I’m sure the King will understand why we’re late when we explain that we picked up a friend along the way,” she said decisively. Link smiled to himself; Dorephan had always been a cooperative one.

They traveled in silence for a bit after that until Zelda piped up again. “I’ve heard in passing that for dog people, there is always a heart dog meant for them, and them only. Like a soulmate, perhaps.”

Link tilted his head. He had heard something similar, back in Faron. “You should give her a name. I know it’s a bit on the spot, but…” Zelda said, looking expectantly at the other Hylian.

“ _Dog._ ”

“Just… Dog?”

Link nodded.

Zelda scoffed and looked back to the road ahead. “Honestly, Link, you’ve seen and heard so much in your journey across Hyrule, and that’s the best you could come up with?”

Link sped his horse up until he was side-by-side with the white stallion he had tamed and turned over to Zelda once she had been freed so that she wouldn’t have to keep looking back to see his hands move.

“ _It’s good enough, and I don’t think she’ll mind._ ” He continued on, “ _A person in the Faron region told me almost the same thing. They told me something else, too. It doesn’t exactly apply, but it’s close enough._ ”

Zelda cocked an eyebrow, now interested in what he had to say.

“ _Always name a street dog,_

__

__

_it’ll follow you forever._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> at the time of posting this my very own street dog turned house pet is sitting behind me pouting because i won't let her out of my room, sry vixen  
> the idea of a heart dog is Very True imo, coming from someone who has owned 5 dogs and fostered 1 over the past 17 years
> 
> come shout at me on tumblr and twitter @ eremazing (you'll find pictures of my dogs there!!!)  
> and if u dont feel like going through my pages of nonsense, here's the baby girl: http://eremazing.tumblr.com/post/180875620180/funky-little-girl-named-dog-from-my-fic-always !!


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